We’ve said it on the blog before—gum disease doesn’t just affect your oral health. It’s also been linked to a variety of health conditions in the rest of the body, including diabetes.

But what exactly is the relationship between gum disease and diabetes? That’s what we’d like to spend some time talking about today.

The true nature of that relationship isn’t fully understood yet, but researchers do know that it runs two ways. On the one hand, the infection caused by caused gum disease raises the body’s blood sugar levels, increasing a diabetic’s chance of experiencing complications. On the other hand, a patient with diabetes is more susceptible to developing an infection because of the differences in his blood sugar. So regardless of whether one causes the other, or vice versa, a link definitely exists between them.

That means regular checkups are essential for monitoring gum health. Even if you’re not diabetic, you may still have a mild form of gum disease.